Arrest of Cuban ex-CIA figure puts Bush in tough political spot

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 18, 2005

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Luis Posada Carriles listens to a question by a reporter during a news conference, Tuesday, May 17, 2005 in Hialeah, Fla. Carriles, a 77-year-old former CIA operative and Venezuelan security official, was taken into custody by Homeland Security authorities. (AP Photo/Joshua Allen) less

Luis Posada Carriles listens to a question by a reporter during a news conference, Tuesday, May 17, 2005 in Hialeah, Fla. Carriles, a 77-year-old former CIA operative and Venezuelan security official, was taken ... more

Photo: JOSHUA ALLEN

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In this photo made available by the Cuban Government's National Information Agency (AIN), hundreds of thousands of people partake in a rally, Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2005. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans answered Fidel Castro's call to file past the American mission early Tuesday in a "March against Terrorism," demanding that the United States arrest Cuban exile, Luis Posada Carriles, sought in a deadly airliner bombing three decades ago. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco/AIN) **EFE OUT** less

In this photo made available by the Cuban Government's National Information Agency (AIN), hundreds of thousands of people partake in a rally, Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2005. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans ... more

Photo: ISMAEL FRANCISCO

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**EDS: RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED TONING**Hundreds of thousands of Cuban protest in front of the US Mission in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2005, in a march demanding that the United States arrest Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, who is sought in Venezuela on charges of helping bomb a civilian airliner in 1976, killing 73 people. (AP Photo/Jorge Rey) Ran on: 05-18-2005
Protesters in Havana demand the United States arrest the exile accused of bombings. Ran on: 05-18-2005
Protesters in Havana demand the United States arrest the exile accused of bombings. less

**EDS: RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED TONING**Hundreds of thousands of Cuban protest in front of the US Mission in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2005, in a march demanding that the United States arrest Cuban ... more

Photo: JORGE REY

Arrest of Cuban ex-CIA figure puts Bush in tough political spot

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Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who is wanted in Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, was seized by U.S. authorities in Miami on Tuesday.

The move could have major political implications for President Bush, who has promised to pursue terrorists but has been reluctant to offend his Cuban American constituency.

Posada, seeking asylum in the United States, was taken into custody by federal immigration officials, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement.

A strident anti-communist, Posada long has been regarded as a terrorist by Cuba, Venezuela and other nations. But he is a hero to many in Florida's politically powerful anti-Castro Cuban community, who tend to support Republicans.

Posada is accused of masterminding the bombing of a Cubana jetliner over Barbados that killed many members of Cuba's Pan American Games team on Oct. 6, 1976. Venezuelan authorities arrested Posada after tracing the bomb to two Venezuelans who had worked for Posada's private security agency in Venezuela.

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In an interview published Tuesday in the Miami Herald, Posada denied any role in the bombing.

However, Peter Kornbluh, director of the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, an independent research institute in Washington, said recently declassified CIA and FBI documents quoted informants linking Posada to planning meetings for the 1976 bombing.

"Posada was involved in an unprecedented crime at the time for the Western Hemisphere," Kornbluh said by telephone from Havana. "President Bush should implement the principles of the war against terror that he espouses -- that no nation should harbor terrorists."

The problem for the Bush administration now is what to do with Posada.

Cuban authorities want him to be extradited to Venezuela or to go before an international tribunal, but the U.S. government generally does not return people to countries acting on Cuba's behalf. Neither is the Bush administration a fan of international tribunals -- nor of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has made increasingly anti-American statements since taking office in 1999. However, Venezuela does have an extradition treaty with the United States.

"Sending Posada to Castro or Chavez would be like sending him to the wolves. I hope that does not happen," said Hernandez of the politically influential Cuban American National Foundation.

To be eligible for political asylum, which he has sought, Posada would have to prove a well-founded fear of persecution in a country to which he could be deported. The Homeland Security Department has 48 hours to determine his status.

The 77-year-old former sugar chemist was charged in 1976 with the airline bombing along with his partner, Orlando Bosch, and spent nine years in a Venezuelan jail, although he was never convicted of that crime. In 1985, he escaped after paying a hefty bribe while awaiting a prosecutor's appeal of his second acquittal in the bombing.

His whereabouts had been unknown until he surfaced in Miami in March after entering the United States through Mexico. He said he arrived in Miami by bus.

Rachel Farley, associate for Cuba and drug policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a liberal think tank, said she was not surprised that authorities took six weeks to detain Posada even though he is on a U.S. immigration watch list.

"He puts the U.S. in an uncomfortable position -- not only because of pressure from Miami Cubans but his CIA connections."

Posada has had a long history of planning assassinations and planting bombs in Cuban government offices since the early 1960s, when he was trained in demolition and guerrilla warfare by the CIA. The declassified information said the CIA paid him $300 a month in the 1960s and that he worked for the CIA at least from 1965 until June 1976.

Over the years, FBI reports associated him with plans to blow up Soviet and Cuban freighters in Mexico, a plot to overthrow the Guatemalan government, and involvement in anti-Castro activities in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In the 1980s, he worked with the CIA in El Salvador to ferry weapons to the U.S.-backed Contra army in its fight against Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

In 1997, Posada allegedly orchestrated a dozen bombings in Cuba intended to deter the growing tourism trade. An Italian businessman was killed and 11 people wounded as a result. In a taped interview with the New York Times, he said: "It is sad that someone is dead, but we can't stop."

In Tuesday's published interview with the Miami paper, he didn't deny his involvement in the bombings. "Let's leave it to history," he said.

Last August, Posada and three others were pardoned by Panama's outgoing president, Mireya Moscoso, for their role in an alleged assassination plot against Fidel Castro during a conference in Panama City in 2000.

"We know that if they had remained here, they faced the possibility of being extradited to either Venezuela or Cuba, where I'm sure they would have been killed," Moscoso told reporters at the time.

In recent weeks, Castro has made numerous televised speeches calling Posada a terrorist and accusing the Bush administration of hypocrisy for taking no action while waging a global war against terrorism. His calls for Posada's arrest were echoed by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who marched past the U.S. mission in Havana on Tuesday.

The Cuban government will wait to see whether Bush "lives up to his rhetoric or if they help an old friend," Cuba's parliament speaker, Ricardo Alarcon, told the Associated Press after hearing of Posada's arrest.

Before he was taken into custody Tuesday, Posada said he was willing to abandon his asylum request and leave the United States for another country.

"If my petition for political asylum created any problem to the government of the United States, I am ready to reconsider my petition," he said. "My only objective is to fight for the freedom of my country."

His attorney, Eduardo Soto, said the asylum request was being refiled because of Posada's arrest. He also questioned the U.S. government's timing.

"It was the U.S. government's preconceived notion to detain him before we withdrew our application for asylum," Soto told the Associated Press. "You don't need to formally remove a person who wants to leave."

Meanwhile, Kornbluh says he hopes Bush does not follow in his father's footsteps. Former President George H.W. Bush granted Bosch, Posada's longtime partner, an administrative pardon in 1990 despite a ruling by the Justice Department that Bosch "has been resolute and unwavering in his advocacy of terrorist violence." Today, Bosch lives quietly in Miami.

Kornbluh says Posada is a test case for principles championed by the current President Bush -- that no nation should harbor terrorists. He says the president should extradite Posada to Venezuela and share with the Chavez government the "voluminous intelligence" the U.S. government has on the Cubana airline bombing.

"That would be a true statement of conviction that there is no statute of limitation on terrorism, that the war on terrorism is paramount and trumps all other foreign policy issues," Kornbluh said. "The whole world is watching."

Posada chronology

Key events in the life of Luis Posada Carriles, whose extradition is sought by Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Feb. 15, 1928: Born in Cienfuegos, Cuba.

Early 1961: A supervisor for Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., he flees Cuba, first to Mexico, then to Florida.

1961: Trains for CIA-organized Bay of Pigs invasion. His ship does not land before the April 17 attack fails.

February 1963-March 1964: Serves in U.S. Army.

1964-1965: Involved in anti-Castro activities in United States, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. CIA reports indicate he works as agent starting in 1965.

May 1965: FBI report has him associated with plot to overthrow Guatemalan government.

June 1965: FBI reports say Posada planned to blow up Soviet or Cuban freighter in port of Veracruz, Mexico.

1967: Moves to Venezuela, rises to become head of counterintelligence for government security agency.

October 1976: Arrested in Venezuela. Acquitted in military and civilian trials, but held while prosecution appeals.

August 1985: Escapes from prison.

1986: Newspaper and witnesses say Posada in El Salvador working on U.S. supply effort for Nicaragua's Contra rebels.

April-September 1997: Hotel bombings in Havana kill one tourist. Cuba blames Posada, who first acknowledges and then denies role in the attacks.

Nov. 17, 2000: Assassination plot against Castro revealed at Ibero- American summit in Panama. Panamanian officials find explosives, arrest Posada and three others, who are later convicted of endangering public security.

Aug. 26, 2004: Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardons Posada and allows him to be flown out of country, apparently to Honduras.

March 2005: Posada enters United States. Attorney says he is seeking asylum.

May 13, 2005: Venezuela says it has asked U.S. government to arrest and extradite Posada.

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